This is Walter. He’s probably the greatest homeless grandpa ever. He lives on the street behind the Shell station, has no teeth, and doesn’t like pigeons because “they’re greedy and eat all the time.” We would visit him everyday around 4:00 with a cup of soup. He was precious and I will miss him terribly. It’s difficult when you find someone on the streets who actually wants to be helped…if only I had a house and a garage apartment.
So, the ingredients were given to us each day for the soup-making process. Hmm, this is a chicken heart that provided most of the meaty goodness for our soup. There was chicken heart and chicken neck. Apparently, the boys think it’s better than steak. My opinion? Well, I’ve tried both and I’m sticking with steak. 🙂 ((My team has learned that I’m always the first to dive into trying new things. So, I turn the corner from organizing clothing and Blair shoves a chicken heart in my face. “Try it so I can decide if I want to,” she says. So, I did.))
This is Gideon. He’s been on the streets for a few years and is allowed back home when he saves up enough money to “earn his keep.” Despite the hard “street” exterior, he still has that spark of youthful innocence. I adored him and was really upset when he went missing our first week. Unfortunately, he got into a street fight and spent a few nights in jail. In this picture though, his collar was all dishelved, so I turned into mom and fixed it. He laughed. I’m SURE he thought I was a lunatic.
We went to the bible school to help out with “gardening.” I’ve learned that my idea of gardening often differs with African definitions. Sure enough, we were asked to dig ENORMOUS holes all over the bible college campgrounds for future trees. The male bible students watched while we dug. So fun.
We walked outside and there was this LION CUB just sitting outside our gate!!! No, not really…we went to the Lion Park in Jo’burg and got to spend some time with lion cubs, hyenas, cheetahs and giraffes. We went on the drive-thru and were FEET away from huge adult lions. The only thing that separated us from them was my car window. Well…it separated us when Shannon didn’t have the window rolled down so she could take pictures. No, fences…just lions. Loved it.
One of the craziest and most phenomenal things I’ve ever done…12,000 feet and 45 seconds of free fall. I will absolutely do it again some day. Thanks for the prayer cause I definitely found the guts to jump.
We spent a few extra days playing with some phenomenal kids at Children of Fire here in Jo’burg. This was my buddy Sizwe. He’s a killer drummer who wants to be a teacher, a singer, and a chef. Big dreams with all the ability to chase them…Saying goodbye to these children after such a short amount of time was difficult. You can read all of their stories at firechildren.org
One of my favorite pictures from the month. This was Vincent and we had a lot of fun reading some nursery rhymes…UNTIL we got to the end “the ugly duckling”…Vincent was not happy and this was the reaction 🙂 He recovered though when we read Heidi and Cinderella. He found those much more reasonable!
Hopefully these will give you all a better idea of where we’ve been and what we’ve done. This month has been different as we’ve had freedom with a car and coffee shops. It has felt much more like home. It’s been nice but I’m ready for Romania where I suspect we’ll be camping again. South Africa was different because we were involved in quite a few different ministries and activities. It has all been incredible but it will be hard to leave here.
After 2 LONG months, H-Squad will be reunited at a retreat center outside of Jo’burg. Six months ago no squad time wouldn’t have bothered me, but I’ve grown to love this crazy group of people over the last 8 months. It’s amazing how a family can form when like minds and hearts serving together. I’m ready to see all of them. Be praying for a refreshing reunion.
H SQUAD, I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!
H SQUAD, I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!
